The speech of the representative took much longer than anyone expected. Everyone wanted to say something, resulting in a drastic loss of interest from the spectator area.
Instead of focusing on the representatives speaking about the Battle Exchange, how important it is for the Tritan Alliance to remove the threat of the Tekur race, and that teamwork was essential, most humans ended up opening their crystal watch's screen to read through the Battle Exchange Rules Guide.
After they heard what the dean said about stealing the Flag War Tokens, everyone was interested to know if it was truly allowed to steal the Tokens, or if the dean blurted out thoughts aloud without thinking.
Only the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs kept paying attention to their leaders' speeches.
Michael was quite surprised about the guide's structure. It was comprehensive and quite easy to understand. The Chieftain did a great job summarizing everything without leaving out any important piece of information.
Unfortunately, that didn't really make it better. The rules of the Battle Exchange were clear – or was it better to say that the lack of rules was clear? Michael was baffled when he saw the short list of rules for the Battle Exchange.
They could be summarized quite easily as well.
1– No fighting in public, and no murder.
2–Accidents can happen, but you have to call a healer the moment you injure someone.
3–Fighting in the other arenas is allowed, and will be counted into your ranking as long as a neutral witness was present. Nonetheless, it is preferred that you either fight in the Underground Colosseum or record the battle if no trusted neutral witness is present.
4–If you lose your Flag War Token you can only blame yourself for being too weak to keep it. How did you even make it into the top 200 if you cannot even protect a Token?
5– All Flag War Tokens in your possession have to be affixed to your clothes.
6– Hiding in the Origin Expanse, or hotel room is not allowed.
7– There are a total of 200 permanent Flag War Tokens for Support and Healing-type Soultraits. You don't want to die during the Flag War, and be strong enough to face the Tekur head-on? If that's the case, leave the Awakened with Support and Healing-type Soultraits alone!
The rules didn't encourage stealing, but they stated indirectly that thievery was allowed. It was…interesting. Until now, Michael had been curious as to why the Battle Exchange would last an entire month. But now everything made sense.
In the next five days, the five disciplines of the Battle Exchange would be held. The 1000 Flag War Tokens would be distributed, leaving 25 days to challenge Token holders, or to steal them.
The Token holders would have to focus on protecting their tokens until the end of the month while the other participants would have to give their utmost to get hold of a token.
Once the Battle Exchange ended after 30 days, only the Token holders – the participants of the Flag War – would remain in Piloq. The remaining participants would be sent back to their academies and universities. In the following two months, a hellish training would be initiated – supported by a vast amount of resources provided by the combined efforts of the Tritan Alliance.
The ranking of your Flag War Token would determine the amount of resources allocated to the respective Awakened, meaning that it was essential to have a Token with a lower number.
Therefore, the competition between Token Holders would be fierce as well. Especially since the difference in allocated resources between a single rank was likely to be ginormous. After all, the Tritan Alliance wished to close the Lesser Dimension Gate as soon as possible – preferably during this year's Flag War.
The amount of resources invested in this year's Battle Exchange was several times higher than before. This was also mentioned in the guide – probably a means to fuel every participant with more motivation and make them strive for a better ranking.
The guide also mentioned that the rewards handed out to the top 200 of every discipline would be worth fighting for. Michael noticed the particular way some sentences were left ambiguous while others were written with great detail, giving precise information about the gains one could make by attaining a high ranking at the end of the Battle Exchange.
It was written in a way that made everyone – including Michael – immensely interested in reaching the top 200 in all disciplines.
However, even then, Michael wouldn't participate in all disciplines. That would not only be extremely stressful, but it was also nonsensical because Michael was not strong enough to enter the top 200 in certain disciplines.
He might have many Soultraits, but he was still a Tier-2 Lord. Trying to reach the Top 200 in the Solo Combat discipline meant that he would have to be among the top 200 among 4500 participants – with more than 1000 being Tier-3 Lords with Inheritance techniques.
Michael didn't want to use up his strength early in the Battle Exchange, not if the Battle Exchange allowed him to fight strategically and take someone else's Flag War Token in the next four weeks. He had to fight strategically to make most use of the Battle Exchange, and its 'unique' rules.
"Solo Combat, Duo Combat, Team Combat, Survival of the Fittest, and Support Assessment. All of that seems quite important for the Flag War," Kaleb mumbled when he reached the section related to the five disciplines of the Battle Exchange.
"They want the cream of the crop in terms of Individual combat prowess, teamwork, strategic warfare, survivalists, and supporters. That makes sense," Michael replied with a shrug.
He figured that his individual combat prowess was still not up to the mark. His strength increased considerably, but there were many young prodigies at the Peak of the 3rd Tier with Inheritance techniques and powerful Soultraits. Killian and his group of annoying brats were just one of more than a dozen groups.
The Sun and 12 Stars of the 4th year in all Academies and Universities were Mid Tier-3 Awakened at the very least. Their combat prowess was likely to be above their rank as well. And this excluded the powerful Warriors of the Berserker race and Warlock Centaur race. Thus, Michael wouldn't be able to deal with them. He made a mental note to avoid the Solo Combat discipline.
The Duo Combat discipline was similar in that regard. Michael fought alongside Kaleb a little, but they were both only 1st year students, who had little to no teamwork experience. The opposite was the case for many 3rd and 4th year students. Overpowering 4th year students with their powerful Soultraits may be possible, but it was unlikely to produce a pleasant result.
Last but not least, Michael scratched out the Support Assessment as well. He had Eagle Eyes, which could be used to support himself, but it was not exactly a Soultrait that supported others.
Thus, Michael was only left with three options. Either, he created a team with others for the Team Combat discipline, or he tried his best in the Survival of the Fittest discipline.
"The Duo and Team discipline reward only a single Token. That means only one in the Duo ranking will receive a Token while the other Awakened has to obtain their Token through other means," Zeke noticed.
"Why would you even participate in the Team discipline then? A team of five is supposed to give the Flag War token to a single person? What nonsense is that?" Kaleb grumbled, but both Zeke and Michael shook their heads simultaneously.
"It's much easier to enter the top 200 in the Team Discipline. The Battle Exchange has 4500 members, which can create at most 900 teams of 5 members. There will probably be less teams because not everyone will have enough time to spare for the Team Discipline. Four victories are probably enough to enter the top 200, which rewards one Token, and a considerable amount of resources to train for the next few weeks," Zeke said, to which Michael added,
"The resources obtained in the Team Discipline can be used to grow stronger rapidly, which will then allow you to challenge Token Holders to obtain your own Token. That's also why I'll probably focus on the Team Discipline. If my team can reach a high rank in the Team Discipline, we'll obtain more resources which I can then use to train in the Origin Expanse."
Lincoln and Zeke looked over to Michael when they heard 'my team'. However, Kaleb was the first to say something.
"Do you already have a team? Did you just include me and the others in your team on a whim, or did you already plan something?" He asked but Zeke interrupted him.
"I will probably focus on the Duo Discipline with Lincoln, and the Support Assessment. Lincoln will obtain the Token obtained from Duo Combat, and I will definitely enter the top 100 in the Support Assessment. We won't participate in the Team Combat Discipline."
Michael fully agreed with Zeke's reasoning. Zeke's Eye of Illusion was an exceptionally powerful Soultrait. If used properly mid-battle, it would most definitely change the tide of the battle. Just like Zeke said, he would definitely enter the top 200 ranking in the Support Assessment.
Lincoln and Zeke were childhood friends. They knew each other better than anyone else. Their combat experience as a pair was extraordinary because of their years of experience fighting and training side-by-side. Thus, Michael was also confident in the duo's chances to enter the top 200 in the Duo Combat discipline.
But that was something Michael had already taken into consideration.
"Do you have someone else to team up with?" Michael asked Kaleb with a small grin on his face.
Kaleb just shook his head, which was enough for Michael to turn around to Thaor and Mekhaz.
"How about you guys? Ready to team up with us?"
